The present invention relates to an embroidering system.
In an embroidering system having an embroidery data input device which generates embroidery data on the basis of an embroidery pattern and stores the data in an off-line storage medium, and an embroidering device which moves a stitch forming mechanism and an embroidery frame relative to each other on the basis of the embroidery data of the storage medium, to form stitches and execute embroidery; in a case where the pattern data of every needle dropping point is stored in the storage medium as has hitherto been practiced, the required quantity of data of letters, patterns etc. becomes enormous, and the required number of the storage media becomes very large.
Accordingly, a method has come into use in which, in the operation of storing data in the storage medium, only the principal coordinate values of a contour are stored instead of the above-stated pattern data of every needle dropping point, and needle dropping points are calculated immediately before an embroidering operation.
Even in this case, when the sorts and numbers of letters, patterns etc. increase, a more efficient storage of the storage medium is desired.
Secondly, embroidery patterns include large-sized patterns such as emblems and small-sized patterns such as letters. When the coordinate values of all the patterns are to be respectively stored by an identical system, a storage capacity capable of storing the large-sized pattern is required also for the small-sized pattern.
More specifically, each of Japanese letters, such as the letters of the alphabet, etc. suffices with a comparatively small storage capacity, and these letters form series based on styles and therefore increase with the number of patterns. Storing data in a storage medium with the capacity capable of storing the large-sized pattern, is wasteful worsens the storage efficiency and presents the problem of the increase of cost.
Thirdly, regarding prior-art embroidery data which has only the basic-frame dimension data of the width and height of a rectangle in relation to the size of a pattern, there are problems in that the letters of the alphabet, are difficult to combine into patterns in a joined state, at intervals, etc. preferable for the letters, and that the moving limits of a frame before an embroidery operation are difficult to be found precisely for actual embroidery parts.
In accordance with the present invention, in an embroidering system having an embroidery data input device which generates embroidery data on the basis of an embroidery pattern and stores the data in an off-line storage medium, and an embroidering device which moves a stitch forming mechanism and an embroidery frame relative to each other on the basis of the embroidery data of the storage medium, to form stitches and execute embroidery, an improvement comprising the following features; firstly, when the embroidery data is to be input, the pattern is divided into a plurality of blocks, the principal points of which have their coordinate values stored, and with note taken of the fact that function codes expressive of the same form often succeed when inputting the embroidery data, the codes indicative of the forms of all the blocks are not stored, but only when the forms of the blocks change, the function code corresponding to the new block is stored. Therefore, there is the function that the storage capacity of the memory of the input device can be saved. Further functions are that the storage capacity of the off-line storage medium which is prepared by writing the data of the memory thereinto can be saved, namely, that the number of the off-line storage media can be reduced, to attain an economical advantage, and that when the embroidering system is used, the selection of the off-line storage media by an operator is facilitated, to enhance a manipulation efficiency.
Secondly, the storage medium is provided with flag storing parts for discriminating whether coordinate values are of a 1-byte system or of a 2-byte system, and small-sized patterns such as letters are stored by the 1-byte system, while large-sized patterns are stored by the 2-byte system. Therefore, the invention has the advantage that, for the small-sized patterns which are stored by the 1-byte system, a storage capacity equal to about 1/2 of a capacity in the case of storing all embroidery data by means of the 2-byte system suffices.
Besides, in the embroidering device, whether the coordinate values are to be processed by the 1-byte system or the 2-byte system is decided according to the values of the flags in the load of the embroidery data. This produces the advantage that the storage capacity can be effectively utilized.
Thirdly, the embroidery data is endowed with auxiliary dimension data in addition to frame information on the widths and heights of patterns in a prior art, so that the combinations of patterns having hitherto been impossible are permitted, and that the moving limits of a frame before an embroidering operation are found precisely for actual embroidery parts. Therefore, the invention has the advantage that the range of application of embroidery can be expanded.